American League report: Blue Jays’ division lead dwindles to two games

Saturday night went as poorly as possible as it could’ve for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Until the end of the season, we’ll take a daily look at the happenings among the other potential playoff teams in the American League. We’ll look at how the games went the night before, the Blue Jays’ clinching scenario (until everything is decided), and the slate of coming games.

Let’s take a look at what happened in the American League on Saturday!

Scores

While they still control their own destiny to finish with the best record in the American League, finishing with five hits or fewer in five of their last six does not tend to lead to success. On their own end, they fell 2-1 to the Kansas City Royals, losing a series for the first time since early September when they dropped two of three to the New York Yankees.

Speaking of the Yankees, they gained ground with a 6-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles, moving to just two games back of the Jays, who own the tiebreaker. The Seattle Mariners defeated the Houston Astros to take a two-game lead in the American League West.

As for the American League Central, the Detroit Tigers keep on slipping, while the Cleveland Guardians keep surging. The Guardians won both games they played Saturday to extend their winning streak to 10, while the Tigers lost to the Atlanta Braves to extend their losing streak to six games. With Saturday’s results, the Tigers cling to a one-game lead for the division.

Blue Jays’ clinching scenario

Entering Sunday’s game, the scenario remains the same: A win guarantees the Blue Jays a spot in the playoffs. Getting to 90 wins means that one of the Red Sox, Tigers, or Guardians can’t reach 90 wins, as they have games against one another. The Tigers play the Guardians and the Red Sox in their final two series of the season.

Moreover, the Blue Jays can clinch if all of the Tigers, Guardians, and Red Sox lose.

Ideally, the Blue Jays win because they’re still in contention to clinch the American League East, as well as the best record in the American League. A record of 5-2 or better will clinch them a postseason berth as the best record in the AL, while 4-3 should be enough unless the Yankees win their remaining seven games. A sub .500 record of 3-4 would require the Yankees to go 6-1 to win the division, while the Mariners and Red Sox would need to go 7-0 to surpass the Blue Jays.

The worst-case scenario is a 2-5 record, as the Jays would need a ton of help to finish first in the American League. On top of the Yankees needing to go 5-2 to surpass the Jays, the Mariners and Red Sox would have to go 6-1, while the Astros, Guardians, and Tigers would have to go 7-0 to surpass the Jays.

Sunday’s slate of games

So what’s on tap on Sunday afternoon? The Tigers host the Braves for the series finale, with Casey Mize on the mound. This game has a 1:10 PM ET start time. In Baltimore, the Yankeees will have Cam Schlittler on the mound, with a start time of 1:35 PM ET. The Guardians get going at the same time as the Blue Jays, 2:10 PM ET, with Joey Cantillo on the mound.

There are two late games, the Mariners and Astros have a start time of 7:10 PM ET, while the Red Sox and Rays play at 7:35 PM ET. The Mariners have Logan Gilbert on the mound, the Astros have Jason Alexander on the mound, and the Red Sox have Connelly Early on the mound.

As for the Jays, their game begins at 2:10 PM ET with Trey Yesavage making his second big league start.